Patrick McGilligan's biography on Lang, "The Nature Of The Beast," draws a multi-dimensional portrait of this internationally acclaimed director who not only gave us "Metropolis," but also "M," which made a star out of Peter Lorre, and other classic dramas such as "Fury" starring Spencer Tracy, and "The Big Heat" with Glenn Ford
The 1997 bio asks, as it says on the book's dust cover, "Was Lang a sensitive and compassionate artist, as well as a lover famous women...or was he a sado-masochistic beast whose torturous on-set behavior was mirrored, off the job, in a sordid love life crowded with prostitutes and mistresses?

Did Fritz Lang, preoccupied with murder in his work, in fact kill his own first wife?...

McGilligan spent four years in Europe and America, interviewing Lang's dying contemporaries, researching government and film archives, and investigating the life story of Fritz Lang. His definitive biography--the only such book on Lang, who encouraged publicity but discouraged the truth--reconstructs the fascinating, flawed human being behind the monster with the monocle.

Lang directing Brigitte Helm on the set of "Metropolis."

Lang directing thousands of extras in "Metropolis."

Lang at his wide desk, similar to the mastermind's desk in "Metropolis."

For online photos and studies about Lang and his films, click the photo below of Lang, Brigitte Helm, and Thea Von Harbou (Lang's wife and author of the "Metropolis" screenplay) taking a music break on the set of "Metropolis." The first page is a good introduction, and then launches you to many other Lang sites.

click the Pulsar for the list of links to all pages or use the box below

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'METROPOLIS'